Abstract

This biography tells the life story of a secondary school English coursebook in Kenyafollowing market liberalization (1998) and curriculum review (2002).In ELT, Gray (2007, 2010) first applied the ‘circuit of culture’ model to global Englishcoursebooks; in contrast, I examine the case of a single local publication. Thetextbook has been described as a politico-economic, socio-cultural, and curriculumproduct. I focus on it primarily as a curriculum product and delink the circuit ofculture from its original application in textbook studies in the service of a socioculturalperspective. I posit that the model has the explanatory power to capturethe various research focuses that textbook studies may take.The circuit of culture has five processes or ‘moments’: representation, identity,regulation, production and consumption. Following preliminary work, my ‘journey’begins in the representation moment, using Littlejohn’s (1992, 1998) framework formaterials analysis. In the regulation moment, I interview three participants linkedto the curriculum development body (KIE). In the production moment, I interviewfour authors, the editor and the publishing manager of the selected coursebook. Inthe consumption moment, I interview sixteen teachers who are or have been usersof the materials. Four of the teachers participate in classroom observation and theirlearners respond to a questionnaire. Finally, I build a key identity statement aboutthe coursebook, pooled from the findings in each moment. I reposition the identitymoment and posit its centrality at the core of the circuit.Spurred by insights on innovation in English language education, I support thestrengthening of ‘feedback loops’ across moments, and the recognition of theconsumption moment as the zone for promoting dynamism and synergy intextbook development. This can (ideally) result in curriculum products and practicescapable of overcoming challenges of interpretation and transition, while promotinggood practices across moments.